Halbrand
Halbrand was born into the stifling soot and steam of Orpheus's industrial zones, where towering factories choke the skies and entire districts live beneath the shadow of smokestacks. As an Indent, his life was dictated from the start—work your years, clear your debt (if you live that long), and die in obscurity.
His parents worked themselves ragged on the factory line. But Hal? He had quicker fingers and a faster tongue. He found his way into the street gangs that thrived in the undercity’s labyrinthine alleys—smuggling, pickpocketing, running cons, and making more enemies than friends. By his late teens, he was already known as a ghost on the grid—hard to track, harder to catch. He could’ve kept going forever, had love not stepped in.
The One that Got Away
She was his partner in every heist, every hustle, every close call. A rogue sorcerer with fire in her blood and revolution in her heart. Together, they stole from the Empire, helped Indents disappear, and lived like sparks in the dark. But the Empire doesn’t forget. When the heat came down, she made a choice. In the depths of a flooded power conduit chamber, she performed the Rite of Severance—illegally, dangerously—freeing Halbrand from his shackle. It worked. But the backlash killed her. Hal survived with a mangled forearm, later repaired with salvaged magitech. But the wound that never healed was the one left in his heart. He never talks about her. Never mentions her name. He just keeps moving.
Vagabond of the Void
Now unshackled, Halbrand has become a wandering smuggler, trader, and fast-talker-for-hire. A bachelor in a stolen coat, with charm like gravity and just enough honor to be dangerous. He met Vexx on a colony ship—she stowed away to escape her cult, he stowed away to rob the cargo hold. When bounty hunters boarded mid-flight, they had to trust each other or die. They chose to live. Barely. Since then, the two have formed a reluctant partnership. They watch each other’s backs, argue like an old couple, and somehow always land on their feet. The Oasis is their unofficial home—at least until the next job, the next debt, the next gunfight.
